How pro Overwatch team Rogue's DPS tactics can help you on the ladder

How to push DPS and aggressive support play to the limit.

Overwatch esports has been electric over the last few months now that the meta is more focused on DPS. Though triple tanking is still a thing, many teams have spun that around and opted for triple DPS variants that have yielded a tremendous amount of success. Rogue, one of the best teams in 2016, came back with a new roster this year that has been dominating other North American teams. Their ultra-aggressive approach has been good for three Overwatch Monthly Melee tournament wins in a row, and they’re just coming off a sweet $10,000 victory over EnVyUs at RivalCade’s Overwatch Rumble. Exactly how they’ve done it might surprise you. Let’s take a look at what Rogue has put together on the field over the last couple of months.

Triple DPS with a side of Zenyatta

When Rogue stormed back onto the scene after some restructuring, their tactics stood in contrast to the more modest 2-2-2 fare that was prevalent at the time. Sure, they had Soon and Nico on Tracer and Genji, but they also left AKM stay on as a third DPS. Where most teams had, and still have, Reinhardt and Zarya anchoring down the frontline, Rogue opted for a single Winston from Knoxx. Perhaps the most intriguing change that Rogue brought with them was a heavy-handed serving of Zenyatta from both Unkoe and Winz.

On paper, one might say that there isn’t enough burst healing to keep a team alive through heavy fighting with just Zenyatta and Lucio. In practice, though, what happens is you have a ton of damage potential, insane ultimate generation and a composition that sets the pace of the game. Winston, Tracer and Genji have incredible synergy, forcing positional errors and getting tanks to pivot left and right. Soldier and Pharah are there to clean up, and you have two massive damage buffers in Tranquility and Sound Barrier. This build forces the opposition to be perfect and gives your team quite a bit more breathing room.

Of utmost importance to this composition is the ability to build off of every single kill. That’s where Zenyatta comes in. The Omnic healer functions as a fourth DPS in clustered fights, something Overwatch is known for. His standard combo is simple: Orb of Discord, Orb of Harmony, get some headshots. The fire-and-forget nature of his skills make Zen invaluable to dive builds since he can sit there and spam left-click to his heart’s content. Here’s an example of how Zenyatta can tip odds in your favor:

Look at the insane amount of assists Unkoe gets there, along with all of the auxiliary damage he provided in that fight. Also worth noting is that even if Rogue got into trouble with ults in that choke, Transcendence would have been ready to soak it up. When all’s said and done, Selfless is sent to the drawing board once more.

Five DPS?

Unkoe is one of the best support players in the world, but his aim and calm approach make him a formidable opponent as well. Though rare, there are certain points where he’s opened up with Widowmaker for a push or two. But his more traditional role is Ana, where several pro teams have commented on their difficulties in taking him out. Imagine how an effective Ana would help a dive comp dominate even more fights.

In situations where a DPS goes down, which happens a lot with this strategy, Ana players need to be in communication with their team and call out targets. As we just discussed, Zen is already going to be attacking, so that means Ana and Soldier will be doing the bulk of the hybrid work until their sixth man returns. Since building off of kills is your top priority, there will be times where Ana will be attacking out of necessity, like in the following clip:

With Nico down, Unkoe has to switch between healing and DPS as the fight develops. Rogue’s ult economy remains strong in the end, and they’ll have their choice of boosted ultimates ready for the next engagement. Though Gingerpop gave us the 85/15 breakdown last week for healing versus DPS in standard builds, you’ll need to be on the attack a bit more in these sorts of compositions if you want to keep the momentum going.

If you find yourself doubting whether or not these tactics will work for your ladder team, you need to answer a couple of questions. First of all, do you have a serviceable Winston? D.Va is too squishy and not fast enough, so it must be Winston. Second, are your support players quick to adapt to stressful situations? Having strong supports is almost more important than having successful DPS to this build, so your Ana and Zen need to be confident. This composition takes a lot of practice and hard work, but there’s a reason why so few have been able to get to Rogue’s level as of late. If you can emulate even the most basic aspects of their game, you should see a fair amount of success against unorganized ladder squads. Oh, and remember to throw in a bit of cheese now and then, just like this:

Apex Season 3

Rogue’s dominance has earned them another invite to South Korea for OGN Apex Season 3. Their group is bound to turn some heads, as the Western invitees will have to put their skills to the test against Lunatic-Hai and Kongdoo Panthera, two of the best teams in the region. Korean teams have been known for their dive compositions for quite some time now, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Rogue’s unique style performs abroad.

Joining Rogue will be their long-time rivals and Apex Season 1 champions, EnVyUs. The drama will be palpable when the two meet after EnVyUs veteran, InternetHulk, was cut from their roster and signed by Rogue as a coach last weekend. He has guaranteed that his former team will not take a single map against Rogue at Apex.